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You know how TV documentaries highlight their explanations of war with cool battlefield animation? This site enables teachers to project animations on an interactive whiteboard or projector as a supplement to class presentations. The site has its limitations: at the time of this review, only animations of the Pacific theatre of WWII, WWII: Europe, the Civil War, and the American Revolution are available. More battles are promised for the future. The animation is rudimentary; moving dotted lines, the usual color-coded boxes to represent troops, and fairly primitive sounds. Students who are used to high graphic video games might even find the animation amusing, and middle school boys are sure to laugh at the "explosions" that represent conflicts. At the time of our review, our editors did notice a few typos in the text that accompanies the animations. Nearly all links worked at the time of this review. On the other hand, the site will provide visual learners with maps, the details of troop movement, and a good overview of the wars' major battles. Using this site is simple! Click on the war or your choice at the top. A list of battles will be provided on the left sidebar. Click on the battle that you wish to explore. For example, to find Gettysburg: click on The Civil War and then find Gettysburg in the left side bar. There is also quite an extensive amount of information about famous generals and more.

In the Classroom

The obvious use is to illustrate battles on an interactive whiteboard or projector during a lecture or class discussion. This site might also be useful as a link students can explore from home as part of a homework assignment or enrichment activity. Have students research this site and other information about their "battle" and create a multimedia project. How about a "talking map" indicating where a battle took place with audio recording. Use a site such asZeemaps, reviewed here.

A group of talented future animators might be challenged to envision similar animations for battles that are not already included. Note that you can register on the site to be notified as future battles are added.